Patrick J. O’Connor

Partner

Patrick J. O’Connor heads Harper Meyer’s litigation practice. While based in Miami, Mr. O’Connor litigates complex commercial matters in state and federal courts throughout the nation, including at the United States Supreme Court. He also pursues the arbitration of domestic and international disputes before a variety of arbitration bodies, including the American Arbitration Association, the International Chamber of Commerce, and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (under the auspices of the World Bank).

Mr. O’Connor began his legal career as a legislative intern to the late United States Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan in Washington, DC. He proceeded to obtain his juris doctor in 1999 from Georgetown University Law Center, which has been recognized as the top law school in the nation for the practice of international law. He also studied for an extended period in the doctorate program of the Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Mr. O’Connor is fluent in Spanish, and represents Spanish-speaking corporate and individual clients on a daily basis.

Mr. O’Connor first litigated competition policy and antitrust claims with Blumenfeld & Cohen in Washington, DC, where he represented Consumers Union before the United States Supreme Court in Verizon Communications., Inc. v. Law Office so Curtis V. Trinko, LLP, 540 U.S. 398 (2004). He then proceeded to litigate a broad spectrum of complex commercial matters with Gray Cary Ware & Friedenrich (now DLA Piper), also in Washington, DC. Moving to Miami in 2003, Mr. O’Connor began to litigate complex international commercial matters with Steel Hector & Davis and Squire Sanders & Dempsey (now Squire Patton Boggs). In 2007, together with Patricia Hernández-O’Connor, Mr. O’Connor founded O’Connor Law Group, a full-service business law firm, specializing in international transactions and complex commercial disputes.

Mr. O’Connor is licensed to practice in Florida, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, and he is a member of the bar of numerous federal district and appeals courts, including the United States Supreme Court. Mr. O’Connor is also a Circuit Civil Mediator, which is a designation certificated by the Florida Supreme Court. Mr. O’Connor has lectured on the subject of telecommunications law at the Georgetown University Law Center, and he has been recognized for expertise in competition policy by the International Legal Resource Center. He has authored numerous articles and frequently presented on matters of both competition policy and international law. He has been and remains a member of various corporate boards of directors and advisors.

In addition to the practice of law, Mr. O’Connor is a novelist. His novel, The Last Will and Testament of Lemuel Higgins, was shortlisted for the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel of the Year and won the 2012 USA News Best Book Award for Cross-Genre Fiction. More about Mr. O’Connor’s writing may be found at his author page.